Candy, Chocolate and Lollipops!

I woke up at 5:15 this morning. (My apologies for any incoherencies-ness in this post.  I’m ti-ard.)  Correction, I was awakened this morning at 5:15.  I endeavored for over an hour, trying to get my little guy to fall back asleep.  As his cries started to fade, I heard my daughter’s voice in his room, “Good morning, Brother!” I was extremely frustrated- but only for a moment because I realized I had a choice: hold onto the story all day of how miserably tired I was or just do my best and show up for today.

My husband remarked at how chipper I was considering how little sleep we had. It is days like these that I’m thankful he doesn’t remember dates.  This morning as I started the daily grind with the littles, I remembered that not only is it my very favorite four year old’s (my bff’s daughter) birthday but it’s also the anniversary of my husband’s mother’s passing.  I never met her but I miss her so much.  I know she would have been a wonderful grandmother to our children.  I know she would have done anything to have another day with her children, even if that day started at 5:15am.  Today, this month, I’m going to celebrate the gift I have, another day, another month with my (early-rising, spirited…) munchkins.

You all know how much I love to mark things off of a to do list and the feeling of being productive. However, I know that sometimes it overwhelms my life. As much as I love being a mom, it is a daily challenge to keep it together (especially when I’m not getting the sleep I’d like).  A few years ago, I created my ultimate mom to do list.  It consists of one question:  “did I laugh with my child(ren) today?”  I haven’t found anything else to be more important than this in my life- or anything so challenging.  This job is hard but there’s so much I can let go of and so many more opportunities to get down and have a ball with my little crazies.

How can I not laugh?  This morning my newly potty trained daughter leaned into the toilet to sniff her prized poop-a-doops and exclaimed “it smells like candy… and chocolate and lollipops!”

Wishing you all a fun-filled month with laughter, candy, chocolate and lollipops!